BMTC to re-appoint employees sacked after strike in 2021

Bengaluru: The Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) is gradually re-appointing government bus drivers and other members of the transport department who were sacked in 2021 as a result of a transport strike.

The staff were fired two years ago after they were charged with taking part in a transport protest that demanded pay raises in April 2021. According to an official announcement, the BMTC had sacked over 96 employees. 54 of them are being reinstated, though, according to directives from Karnataka Transport Minister B Sriramulu.

"The employees who were dismissed from services for taking part in the April 2021 wage revision strike are being reinstated in a phased manner," the BMTC announced in a statement.

More than 4000 workers from the four state-run transportation corporations that were involved in the 14-day strike were fired as a result of the strike, which had cost the government millions of rupees.

According to reports, a number of state transport department employees who were dismissed are having financial difficulties. Shambulingaiah, a fired employee, even requested permission for him and his family to go for euthanasia in a letter to then-President Ramnath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Additionally, the BMTC is experiencing a significant manpower shortage, resulting in over 1,000 buses sitting on the road without any drivers. A research claims that Bengaluru requires 12,000 additional buses to effectively provide mass public transportation. However, only 5,660 of the corporation's approximately 6,771 buses are now in use.